Silver American Eagle Storage

[leethree]

To Dansco or not to Dansco? I have a UNC SAE collection - one for each year to date. I'm beginning to notice on some of the coins that toning is beginning to develop. Its hard to tell if this will be desirable toning or not. All my other stuff is in Dansco albums so I'd like to keep them there.

 

Any advice? What would you do?

[jtryka]

Personally I would leave them alone. I have a few Morgans in Danscos that are toning as well as some Jeffersons and Roosevelts. I have an unc. Libertad set in a Littleton album and have not noticed any toning starting, but it's only been a year or so since I put them there.

[TreasureGirl]

Do you have pics? Maybe someone can tell you what the toning will look like after some time.

[just carl]

Use a Butane torch on the entire set. This will get rid of that toning stuff

In reality, toning is normal if air and moisture can get to the coins. This is true of any metal including Gold. Many think some metals do not react with the elements such as Gold, but all metals react with some elements if exposed. The thing to do is simple. Place each Album in a freezer type zip lock bag and push as much air out as possible. After sealing closed, check by attempting to pull the plastic away from the Album. If it can not be done, you've removed almost all of the air. No air, no moisture, no more toning. I do this with well over 100 Whitman Classic Albums and no toning of any kind ever.

[UncleBobo]

What if you used the above method and put a desiccant into the bag before it was sealed?

[crystalk64]

I have tried everything over the last 30 years and have found only one sure thing to protect my unc. coins, including my silver eagles and that is AIRTITES! Toning is fine is one cares for it but I absolutely don't and will not buy toned coins with the exception of a nice toned buffalo nickel every now and then and even then I am pretty darn picky. I prefer blast white, so to speak, and I find toning a distraction to eye appeal and regardless of what anyone says, toning is damage to the surface of the coin. I know there are a great number of collectors who love toned coins and are willing to pay a premium to get them. Thats what is so great about this hobby----something for everyone and every budget! And, the only person we really have to please with our purchases are ourselves!

[GDJMSP]

To Dansco or not to Dansco? I have a UNC SAE collection - one for each year to date. I'm beginning to notice on some of the coins that toning is beginning to develop. Its hard to tell if this will be desirable toning or not. All my other stuff is in Dansco albums so I'd like to keep them there.

 

Any advice? What would you do?

 

 

OK, they are in Dansco albums. But there is a lot more to storage than that. Please describe the exact conditions of how you are storing the coins and then we may be able to offer some helpful suggestions. By exact conditons I mean first of all where you live - city and state. Then in what room of the house do you store them, are they stored in the open or in a closed container of some sort ? Do you use silica gel packs ? What kind of heat and cooling system do you have ? At what temperature do you normally keep the house and does it fluctuate - if so how much ? Do you or anyone else in the house smoke ? How old is the album ? Do you cook fried foods a lot or rarely ? Are there any large industrial plants in your town or close by ?

 

You see, there are literally a thousand things that can and will affect coin toning. So without actually knowing the conditions, it's rather hard to make helpful suggestions.

[gxseries]

Agreed, GDJMSP pretty much nailed it. There are too many factors to account for toning - you can't just say the album alone does the toning job. It's more to do with the enviroment that interact with the coins that cause the toning, in particular sulfur, high heat and humidity. Toning on silver coins in general are silver-oxide or silver interacting with sulfides causing silver-sulfide (I think? Hopefully my chemistry isn't that off).

[KoRnholio]

I recently purchased a nearly complete set of Canadian maples that currently resides in a Dansco album. There's a bit of uglyish dark blue toning around the rims on some of the coins. Not sure if this was a location/storage issue or what, but it's not a very attractive color of toning. I'll post a pic in a bit.

 

edit- found out that the plastic in the pages actually comes out! Took forever to find a pair of tweezers to fish them out though.

[just carl]

What if you used the above method and put a desiccant into the bag before it was sealed?

Some people do that but remember that those, as well as any moisture absorbing agent, can absorb only so much and then that is that. In some instances it could be worse. For example as a desicant of any type becomes saturated with moisture and in a location where the temperature increases, the moisture now is emitted back into the air. No moisture absorbing agent can absorb forever.

In some areas of the world, as you must know, the air is extreamely different. And that is the problem with storaging of anything that can react with outside substances. For example in the Indiana area where there used to be Steel Mills, much of the area is impregnated with Sulfur residues. Those eventually get into the air as SO or SO2. Greatly effects Copper.

I live in an area of really high humidity all the time. Sometimes enough to almost feel like your swimming in the air. Yet collecting for well over 60 years, all Whitman Albums in those Zip Lock Plastic bags, not one coin shows any toning, staining, tarnishing, corroding or darkening.

No air, no humidity, no smoke, no acids, etc. can get to those coins.

Yet due to the areas contaminations from all sorts of Sulfur burning power stations, mills, factories, most Copper piping starts to turn Green when exposed to the air. Grounding systems in the area have to be converted to Aluminum due to the Acid rain. Yet no problems with my coins.